A group of researchers at the University of Western Ontario is embarking on a three-year study to find out.

Tracking more than 1,200 children in 60 elementary schools across Southwestern Ontario, the researchers are studying how neighbourhood design, access to junk food and the route children use to get to school affect their overall health.

"We're testing how their environment affects their health-related behaviour," said Jason Gilliland, director of the urban development program in Western's geography department.

"We argue their environment represents a set of opportunities -- health-promoting or health-damaging."

For two weeks a year -- in spring and fall -- researchers outfit the children with a tiny device called an accelerometer to measure their activity level and a GPS to track where that activity is taking place. The children are tracked during their normal journey to school and their physical activity level before and after school and on weekends.

As some of the children will change school, researchers will look at how the change and their access -- or lack of -- to areas such as public parks affect their health.

He said that while researchers have studied the physical activity of children, they haven't followed up on the children or conducted a study on such a large scale.

The study tracks children in urban, suburban and rural regions with the idea that where you live matters.

After three years, Gilliland and his team plan to share their findings with city hall, planners and developers in the hope they'll consider health when designing urban areas.

"We want to gather evidence to lobby planners to make a healthy city," he said. "If (cities are) spending millions of dollars on something, you want them to do it wisely."

Gilliland said London city hall has shown interest in his findings, adding that his co-researcher is John Fleming, the city's planning director.

Researchers are also working with the health units in Oxford, Elgin and Middlesex, the London District Catholic and Thames Valley District school boards, and the child and youth network, an organization that includes 140 agencies.

The research is one of three national projects funded jointly with $545,000 by the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation and Canadian Institutes of Health Research.